The Ghent facility also makes use of wind power to supply roughly 11 percent of its power consumption, Volvo said in an announcement Thursday. A heating system installed in 2016 cut carbon emissions by 40 percent.

"Installing solar panels in Ghent ­adds to our broader efforts to minimize our environmental footprint," Javier Varela, head of manufacturing and logistics at Volvo Cars, said in a statement.

"We have a constant focus across our supply chain on improving energy efficiency, aiming for the lowest possible carbon footprint across our operations, with the highest possible use of renewable sources," he added.

Renewables have supplied the electricity at Volvo Cars' European plants since 2008. The company has said it wants its global manufacturing operations to be carbon neutral and fully electric cars to account for 50 percent of global sales by 2025.